I’ve Been Inspired!

Do you have a hero in your life, a person who inspires you, or someone you just look up to and wish you could be more like?  I’ve had many throughout my life, sometimes multiple people that inspire me in different ways.  I just wanted to take a minute to mention one of these people in my life.  My sister, Jill.

To make a long story short, my sister is now a single Mom of three kids (14,10, and 4).  Her divorce was finalized in April of 2009.  While this was not her choice, this choice has impacted her life in many ways, including having to go back to work after being a stay-at-home Mom for 10 years.  My sister works as the Secretary of the local grade school in the town that she lives in.  It is a very demanding job, yet she does it with a smile on her face (often taking work home or working while she should be having some “me” time).

Last night she emailed me a letter that she has wrote to every single person that she works with at the grade school.  She felt prompted by God to give every person a book and wrote this letter to go with it.  This book is called “Jesus Calling”.  It is an incredible book and I highly recommend getting a copy for yourself (a short daily devotional that seems to just speak to you in the moment when you need it the most).

In her letter to the staff, she mentions how she’s a planner, even planning out the next 30 years of her life.  She then paints a word picture that completely blew me away.  Here is a portion of this letter:

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“You may know this about me:  I’m a “planner” through and through.  Whether it is in my work day or my life, I like to have a plan.  I can plan my life out 30 years in my mind.  In fact, I did.  Call it “my plan” or “my dreams” or even “my to-do list”.  This is what it looked like (the bolded items are things  she has been able to check off in her life and the non-bolded items are things that she won’t be checking off that she had planned on):

• Go to college to get a 4-year degree in finance. (My dad was a banker, and I loved it!)
• Get married. (My 2nd major in college was “a man”. It was even on my H.S. graduation cake!)
• Buy a house. (We did.  I called our first home my “white picket fence” house…adorable!)
• Start a family. (Abby is now 14-years-old, Andrew is 10, and Allie is 4.)
• Be a stay-at-home mom. (I was blessed to have this “job” for 10 years!).
• Go back to work after our youngest started school.
• Our children will get married (and we will be at the wedding as one happy family).
• Become grandparents! Take our grandkids on trips with us. Spoil them!
• Retire and grow old together…FOREVER.

Going through a divorce was not in “my plan” at all.  It changed so much of what I had dreamed of for my future.  However, I can honestly say that I have learned so much through my life journey…especially over these past few years.  I have so many cool “God stories””.

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My sister is a very positive person.  How she can stay so positive is beyond me.  Heck, I break a nail and all positivity goes out the window with me.  LOL!  Anyway, reading my sisters list made me stop and think.  I had never thought about how much her future was going to change.  That she had already “planned” out her future and was looking forward to seeing those things happen.

So while this new year is already here.  I challenge you to look at the positive in it and all that’s yet to come.  To smile in the face of change and look for the positive in it.  To re-dream and re-plan out your future if necessary.  Life is what you make of it.  Do you want to live a happy life or have life drag you down?  It’s your choice.  What choice are you going to make?  I choose to live like my sister and take on her example.  Thanks Sis for setting such an incredible example!